Jake Clemons at the Bowery Electric

As the son of a Marine Corps band director, Jake Clemons grew up on military bases. He lived in a religious home, where modern music was not played. At age eight, he heard electric guitars and distortion for the first time when he visited his uncle at work; the late Clarence Clemons was on stage playing saxophone in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Years later, the youth studied jazz performance and began learning to play saxophone, flute, clarinet, piano, bass, drums, and guitar. He started playing in local bands, using the name Jake Christian so as not to live off his uncle's fame. In 2011, the elder Clemons died from complications of a stroke. Springsteen then recruited the younger Clemons to join the E Street Band's 2012 Wrecking Ball tour. When not touring with Springsteen or other artists, Jake Clemons leads his own band. He released his second album, Eyes on the Horizon, on September 6, 2019.

Jake Clemons is coming into his own as a singer-songwriter. At the Bowery Electric tonight, he showcased many original songs, sang and, for most of the two-hour set, he played acoustic guitar. The multi-instrumentalist also played saxophone and piano later in the set. Did the audience come expecting the sound of Asbury Park? Possibly, and Clemons provided a taste of that horn-driven rock and roll from time to time, but he also leaned towards folk, country and jazz on other songs. The songs were not driven by any particular sound but rather by passions; Clemons' lyrics revealed the concerns of his heart, often anchored in the struggle for wholeness in a potentially soul-damaging society. Clemons' songs brimmed with honesty and vulnerability. For this reason, his covers of the Beatles "With a Little Help from My Friends," performed Joe Cocker-style, and Lemme B. Good's "Good Lovin'," done Young Rascals-style, were unnecessary. Performed with the help of a team of able musicians (guitarist Mark Rashotte, keyboardist Jeff Louch, bassist Marika Galea, and drummer Bucky Wheaton), Clemons' original songs demonstrated that his potential is on its way to maturity.